Absolutely amazing work. I have never played a TTRPG before, but I am a diehard fan of the Lyonesse Trilogy and this product has inspired me to give it a try. This system does an incredible job capturing the sense of wonder, grit, and whimsy of Vance's world. The product itself is of excellent quality. Highly recommended.

Bird in Hand is a must have scenario for Monster Island, the most useful sword and sorcery sandbox I have used in the past 40+ years of GM’ing (I have GM’d Monster Island since 2013). Monster Island setting and the scenario itself can be used almost anywhere and in many settings from sword & sorcery to pulp among others. In the Monster Island and in the scenario city people are humans and natives of the island are lizard people but that is easily changed to other kind of jungle dwelling natives. The scenario itself is easy to drop into any ongoing Monster Island campaign – adjusting or adding the hooks and NPCs accordingly. In my campaign it was sword and sorcery based setting, humans from the continent in the port city and headhunting human tribes in interior. We played with characters in mid level skills and long history of roleplaying.

The scenario starts in Grimsand – the only civilized town in Monster Island and the writing brings Grimsand to life. There are multiple interesting NPCs that you can interact with and get in trouble with. The actions your players can have an effect on the NPCs, plotlines on the scenario and also on your future in Grimsand. The first part of the scenario stays in the city and a session or two will be spent there with plenty of opportunities for roleplay, using variety of skills to figure out what is going on and dealing with the increasing number of forces interested in the maguffin. I liked that there were multiple options written out for the various paths players may take. As in great scenarios there are multiple paths thru the first part of the scenario. Eventually the party needs to brace themselves and head into the jungle for most likely a two or three session romp but it could be more. Monster Island interior is deadly so players better be prepared and they will be lost in the jungle if you push into the green interior without the right combination of skills and help. If you are quite lucky and resourceful you may be able to tackle the jungle part with one long session but I would not push it that way.

Hex crawl rules at the end of the scenario are pure gold – making the island itself an adversary that needs to be tackled. They will be used extensively in my ongoing campaign on Monster Island and would be useful also in other jungle or difficult terrain based campaigns.

This is a scenario that melds with the tone and the spirit of Monster Island. It is a worthy addition to Monster Island, Mythras and a great sword and sorcery scenario – and that is high praise indeed.

I'm a big fan of the monster island setting and was so pleased when I heard about this scenario. A bird in the hand really lived up to my expectations! It manages to include enough detail for you to bring the NPCs and events of Port Grimsand to life whilst not being overly bloated or wordy.

I don't want to give too much away, but the book is almost two adventures in one - your lucky players will get to experience the hustle and bustle of Port Grimsand and it's colourful characters in the first half, before heading into the jungle for an expedition they will never forget.

Additionally the hex crawl rules make travel itself and eventful (and potentially hazardous!) undertaking, especially for the unprepared.

It also helps that the book is layed out in a really intuitive way with everything easily accessible whilst you're running, so you don't have to worry about memorising everything.

Would totally recommend!

Mythras is a great rule set for any fantasy campaign; fully supported by a host of products from the design mechanism. Modern, medieval, or ancient or fantastic, Mythras can handle any era well. Clearly Mythras is built to last.

So up front I have to say I don't like writing reviews and I especially don't like to do so for adventures I haven't run. That said, I really want to run this adventure and definitely feel it should come recommended if you intend to play Mythras/Monster Island. I will try and stay spoiler free.

If you're not familiar with Monster Island you should think about becoming so, however a clever DM should be able to easily substitute the contents of this module and their own creativity as a substitute.

I was going to call this a little adventure but at 60 pages (inc. Covers) and chock a block full of events and info it feels anything but. Broken into three distinct chapters you cover quite a bit of the traditional adventure pillars, social/exploration/combat and there is plenty of opportunity for a variety of character builds to shine.

The story is interesting and fun with a plethora of NPC's to act as aid or foils as well a wonderful mix of exciting environments to explore and challenge the PC's. It's difficult to do it justice without spoilers so you'll just have to take my word...or buy it.

The individual chapters should offer many nights of enjoyment as the players are challenged in a variety of ways from a possible heist, trekking through a hostile jungle and some exciting exploration keeping all your bases covered. If you enjoy a good pulp action adventure you'll enjoy this.

Tonally I was reminded of such films as Doc Savage or Indiana Jones the environment is reminiscent of Kong Island meets Tortuga.

As a GM I was particularly impressed at the ease in which this adventure could be expanded and the advice given to help new GM's, a lot of guidance is given in each chapter to help with structuring that part of the adventure but it is 'guidance' not railroading. The section on Hex Crawls is certainly useful and one of many pieces that you could easily carry over to other games alongside NPC's, creatures and so forth.

The art is excellent, with some lovely story pieces and some simpler but useful, clean and well done map pieces. The cover is particulaly excellent and captures quite a bit of the feel for the adventure.

Hopefully my poor review hasn't put you off picking this adventure up, if like me you're a time poor GM then you'd be mad not to. The heavy lifting is done for you. If you're not time poor then the material here could add many nights of enjoyment to your existing game.

This is a great book, great rules, great RPG. Literally my only complaint is the small typeset makes the book difficult to read.

For decades, Fantasy RPG's were dominated by... the game that shall not be named. This presented a problem for those of us who first tasted a fantasy game that was a little more... gritty... as in ACTUALLY gritty... not based on the setting, or on the... aviance... no... a game where your MIGHTY WARRIOR can literally be killed with a single assassin's blow. Where your MIGHTY WIZARD still fears a dagger in the spleen, and your MOST EXCELLENT HIGH HOLINESS CLERIC might get his throat cut by an unscrupulous rival.

Well, here is Classic Fantasy, translated to Rune... right, can't say that... to FRP. Same crunchy bits, same devious foes... but now, you hold in your hands the translation from the... game that shall not be named... to a more RQ... BRP... or Mythras.

You will never be SO high a level, that the dagger in the dark is not a threat... your Warriors, Wizards, Paladins, etc... will have to rely on their skills, their wits, and ultimately, their own abilities.

Like RQ... you have your backgrounds: Barbarian, Civilized, Nomadic and Primitive. If you choose another race (other than human), you will choose your Racial background. Half Orcs and Half Elves can choose either their Demi Human parent's background, or their Human parent's background.

Then choose your class. Keep in mind that this is an RQ/BRP system... so though the usual complexity of the magic system isn't here, you still must put points into the requisite skills to cast spells (for Magic Users: Arcane Casting and Arcane Knowledge, for Clerics: Channel and Piety). You'll recognize the classic classes from the 1st edition of the.... the game that shall not be named. But here is the difference... YOU define your character's skills, etc... based on what you select. If you choose a fighter, are you a Melee fighter, or more of a ranged fighter... are you a Fighting Cleric, or more of a Medic type? You are provided a standard set of skills, then you take your skill points and build from there.

Now... Rank. Rank is like level, the only difference is: Rank is defined in words, skill points, etc... the equivalent of a 1-4th level character is called a Fresh character... then comes Low Level, Mid Level, High Level and Epic... each with a range of "levels" per the old system.

Magic. All the classic spells are here. Those who can use Magic or Clerical Magic use Magic points to cast.

So... this is a translation from BRP to Classic RPG's.

If you've ever wanted to translate your classic high level character to a BRP type... this is your guide. All in all, a tremendous effort that really brings the OTHER game, to a BRP style game.

Oh... and don't mess with dragons... in Classic... they are fearsome creatures that will SERIOUSLY eat you for lunch...

This is Heroic Fantasy without the classic "damage sponging."

I also got the full pre-production pdf from the kickstarter in January, it is awesome!

A high watermark for a hardcover RPG book, Lyonesse is filled with beautiful illustrations and wonderfully rendered maps, all neatly organized in a sharp and elegant layout. The prose is delightful and immersive and the rules (as you'd expect from the Mythras lads) are utterly water-tight and clearly exhaustively playtested. The black and white illustrations are excellent, and the full colour maps are some of the best I have seen in any recent publications. The world of Lyonesse is so evocatively described, that I have been compelled to read Jack Vance's books for the first time. An absolute treasure of a book. Well done to all involved.

However, this was my first experience ordering anything from a POD service, and I must say I was a bit underwhelmed at times with the print quality of some of the pages. Some maps were slightly pixelated and some of the text looked slightly blurry. Not an absolute dealbreaker, as most of the pages seem fine, but something to consider.

This book will take pride of place on my shelf. Pick it up!

-Jamie Banks

I have found this combat cards to be very helpful. The PDF is organized wondefully and the addition of the Strobus Codex is nice. The physical cards are of good quality and work well at the table.

Un grand merci à l'équipe derrière Mythras qui nous offre un jeu très bien écrit, élégant et bien équilibré.

I'm still worming my way through it, but as a huge fan of the Lyonesse books (and Vance in general) and the BRP family of games, I can safely say that so far, this is the most impressed I've been with a product since I picked up Elric! The layout is superb, the prose is great, the magic systems seem inspired, and (this is the big one for me) I can't think of anything I would house-rule or change as I read it.

There have only been a handful of other games that I had the same initial reaction to (Elric!, and Dungeon Crawl Classics perhaps?). It's everything that's great about Mythras, but tuned to perfection to capture what makes the Lyonesse books so special.

I can't wait to start my next campaign here.

When I first read Mythras, I immediately understood how intuitive and yet immersive the combat system was. But this series has helped me realize that the game is even better than I thought. Dan True, the author of this scenario, brilliantly uses the rules to teach players how to fight and, above all, how to think. Strategy and tactics are the main pillars here.

An absolute masterwork.

Dharman

Thorough and elegant, easily best iteration of the d100 ruleset. One of the best written rpg books I've read.

Can't wait to play aroundBamburgh

There was a giant wyrm there that'll be a battle.